Compression-producing machine



Jan. 15, 1929. 1,698,852

S. P. MILLER ET! AL COMPRESSION PRODUCING MACHINE Original Filed March 6, 1922 2 SheetsSheet 1 INVENTOR M a? ATTORNEY Jan. 15, 1929. 1,698,852

S. P. MILLER ET AL I COMPRESSION PRODUCING MACHINE Original Filed March 6. 192 2 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 15, 1929.

' STUART r. MILLER, nuco n. nausea, AND DWIGHT cootnr, SYLVANIA, assmnoas TO THE BARRETT company,

JERSEY.

PATENT oFF cE.

OF PHILADELPHIA, PENN- A CORPORATION OF NEW COMPRESSION-PRODUCING MACHINE.

Application filed larch 6, 1922, Serial No. 541,841. Renewed Kay 28, 1926.

In the type of tablet machines, such for example, as is illustrated in the patent to Clark, No. 610,029, it has been customary to apply pressure to the tablet forming rods by means of two pressure wheels, one journaled in a movable lever and the Other journaled in a fixed position. One end of the movable lever is pivoted in a fixed position and the other is linked to a weight and levers by means of which the pressure on the rods may be varied. This system also serves as a means for releasing overloads on the rods. It has been found thatbrealkage of parts often occurs because the overload release doe'snot operate promptly and satisfactorily.

The present invention overcomes this and other defects and renders it possible for such a machine to be greatly overloaded without danger, and renders it safe to operate with materials that may contain a considerable amount of impurities that are incompress1- ble, or materials that are of such a nature that portions of aprevious charge somet mes stick to the ends of the pressure applying rods or 1 remain in the tablet-forming receptacles, thus causing overloads when they are again charged with a full amount of the powder or material that is to be compressed into the desired shapes, such as pellets, tablets, lozenges, balls, etc.

The invention will be understood from the description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- F ig. 1 is a side view partly in section 1llustrating an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustraitng a modification;

In the drawings, reference character 1 designates the upper pressure wheel that is mounted in a stationary hearing. A traveling member, 2 is provided with an upper series of holes 3 for the rods 4 and a lower series of holes 5 for the rods 6. A cam 7 serves to raise the rods 3-after they have perand with a transverse bearing block 13 on its lower side. The bearing 13 rests in a guide groove upon a stationary support 14 which has a'flat upper surface.

The pressure wheel 9 is journaled in or carried by a lever 15, one end of which is journaled in a fixed support 16, and theother end is pivoted at 17 to the upper end of a toggle arm. This toggle consists of an upper member 18 and a lower member 19 joined at 20. The lower member 19 is pivoted in a stationary hearing at 21 and the u per member comprises two rods, the ends of tively screw-threaded right and left handed, and are united by a sleeve nut 22 that is correspondingly threaded so that by turning the nut 22, the length of the upper member 18 of the toggle maybe altered.

v A rod 23 pivoted to the toggle joint at 20, extends loosely through a ring 24 that is ournaled in a fixed hearing by means of trunnions 25 on opposite sides of the ring 231. A slmilar ring 26 is connected to the ring 24 and at a fixed distance therefrom by means of a number of rods 27. The rod 23 is threaded for a portion of its length and is provided which are respec with adjustable nuts 28 and 29. A compression spring 30 surrounding the rod 23 has one of its cndsbearing against the nut 29 and its other end hears against the ring 26, through which the rod 23 extends a short distame and accommodates the nut 28.

The operation is as follows:

Material in powdered or granular form,

for example, which it is desired to compress into the form of pellets, lozenges, etc., is fed into the apertures 5' int-he member 2 in the usual way and as this' member is'causcd to travel in the direction of the arrow by suitable means (not shown) the rods 3 are forced downwardly by the upper pressure Wheel 1 and at the same time'the rods 6 come into contact with,the lower pressure wheel 9 which is adjusted to produce the desired compresion. After the material has been properly compressed, the cams 7 and 10 raise the rods 3 and 6 so that the compressed mass can be easily removed from the machine.

In case there is-too large a charge in an aperture 5 or an incompressible material gets .in the aperture, then the excess pressure thereby induced when the corrspon'ding pressure roducing rods are between the pressure whee s, causes the wheel 9 to force the end 17 load.

of the lever 15 downwards, thereby making the toggle bend and forcing the rod 23 inwardly against the compression spring 30. Since the reactive force of a toggle to its opposing force, such as the reaction of point 17 to the compression spring 30, decreases as the toggle is compressed and closed, as in the case of a pair of toggle shears, and since the reactive force of an helical spring increases with 'an increase in its compression, the arrangement is such that by suitably adjusting the nuts 28 and 29, any desired condition'at the instant of application of the overload may be. obtained. For instance, by suitably adjusting the proper one or more of elements 22, 29 and 28, the device may be so arranged as toprovide for a decrease in pressure on rods 4 with increase in overload, or for an increase in pressure on rods 4 with increase in overload, or for substantially no change in pressure on rods 4 with increase in over- The nut 28 can be adjusted to provide the initial set of the toggle and the nut 29 can be adjusted to provide different degrees of initial compression of spring 30 or the .point at which its compression first begins, while the sleeve 22 can be used to alter the distance between the surfaces of parts 1 and 9 within limits to allow a means of slightly changing applied pressures without altering the position of the main adjusting nuts 28 and 29. Slight variations in densities of materials being handled can thus easily be compensated for. In other words, this adjustment corresponds to the micrometer adjustment on fine instruments. The procedure and advantages of this apparatus, as defined in this paragraph: and the preceding one, apply equally as well to the apparatus shown in Fig. 2,- wherevcr similar parts are referred to.

Astheend 17 of lever 15 descends carrying with it the wheel 9, the cam arms 11 of cam I supporting one end of the pressure wheel carrying lever, the necessity for overcoming the inertia of a slow moving system of levers and weights is avoided and provision is also made for obtaining a considerable yield of the overload releasing mechanism promptly enough and to a great enough extent to prevent breakage even in cases where an excessively great overcharge of material has been fed into the pellet-forming apertures. This result is obtained in this invention without requiring a greatly multiplied movement of heavy parts. This represents a decided improvement over the devices heretofore employed.

In the modificationfshown in Fig. 2 the up per pressure wheel is movable and the lower one is fixed, and a different arrangement of the toggle mechanism is illustrated. In this modification the lower: pressure wheel 31 is journaled in a fixed base 32, and the upper pressure wheel 33 is journaled in the lever 34, one end of which is pivoted in a fixed bearing 35 and the other end of which is pivotally connected at 36 'to the connecting rod 37, which rod has a sleeve nut 37 for adjusting its length; The lower end of the connecting rod 37 is pivotally connected to the end of the lever 38, the other end of said lever being pivoted at 39 to the fixed base 32. An intermediate portion of the lever 38 is connected at 40 to the lower member 41 of the toggle, the upper member 42 of said toggle beiug pivotally connected to the fixed point 43 on the base 32. The joint 44*of the toggle is connected to the rod 45. The rod 45 is screw threaded at its ends and provided with the nuts 46 and 47 and extends through an opening 48 in the base 32. ;The rod 45 carries a hemispherical bearing piece 49 which is seated in a corresponding, seat 50 in the base 32 and is slidable with respect to the rod 45. A compression spring 51 is interposed between the bearing piece 49 onthe rod 45 and the nut 46.

The operation is as follows:

When a series of tablet-forming rods, lozenge-forming rods, etc., similar to the rods 3 and 6. shown in Fig. 1 are passed betweenv the pressure wheels 31 'and 33 of Fig. 2 with a charge between the same, as already described, the action is similar tothat indicated above. The rods may be caused to travel in a circular path, a tangent of which is parallel to the plane of pressure wheels 31 and 33, thereby avoiding contact with the connecting rod 37. In case too large a charge of the material to be compressed has been introduced, or if for any reason an overload comes on the machine, the upper pressure wheel 33 will be raised, thus elevating the connecting rod 37, and by the'connections with the toggles 41, 42 the spring 51 will be compresed, thus relieving the overload and avoiding rupture of the parts. The nut 47 on the rod 45 may be so adjusted as to determine the initial position of the toggle that is the toggle angle, and the nut 46 may be so adjusted as to determine the initial compression oft-he spring 51. The hemispherical bearing piece 49 in the seat 50 permits the rod 45 to move in acordance with the swinging of the toggle member 42. about its pivot 43. Vith the modification shown in Fig. 2 the pressure rods thatv come into contact with the pressure wheel31 may be permitted to slide along the fixed surface or track 52 while approaching the pressure wheel 31 and after leaving the same, because the pressure wheel remains in a fixed position.

When-the pressure rods that come into contact with the pressure Wheels are located, for example, in a circular'hea'd, asindicated in the patent to Clark, No. 610,029, more than one set of pressure Wheels may be supplied with the requisite toggles to avoid breaking due to overload. By employing a rotative head with a sufiicient number of pressure rods, the pairs of pressure wheels may be increased to two or more, since with two pairs of pressure wheels diametrically opposite one another, an even number of pressure rods will cause each pair of pressure wheels to come into maximum play at the same time. It will be convenient to use an odd number of pressure wheels in order toreduce the magnitude of shock at any one time and this will permit a single toggle mechanism to satisfactorily take care of the two pairs of wheels,

but nothing is meant that will proclude the use of one toggle for one or more pairs of pressure wheels irrespective of the number of pressure rods, or of an individual toggle mechanism for each pair of pressure wheels independent of the number of pressure rods", odd or even.

While the invention has been specifically described in connection with a pellet-making, etc., machine it is,to be understood that it is not restricted to such use, as it can be used, for example, for the purpose of absorbing shocks in heavy machinery, such as Crushers, rolls, etc., and for relieving excess strains or stresses when such devices are overloaded.

It should be understood that, in applying our invention, it is'not necessary to have the toggle separated from the pressure wheels by'the lever 34, the connecting'rod 37 and the lever 38. If desirable, the movable pressure wheel 33 could be journaled in the end of one of the toggle arms. The embodiments of the invention illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 indicate the application of this invention where a heavy springwas not desirable. The invention is, however, not limited to any particular weight of spring so that where relatively low pressures are desired the direct conhection may be easily applied.

We claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a revoluble pressure member carried by a lever, one end of said lever being connected to a toggle,

, and means to cause said toggle to exert substantially the same force, an increasing force, or a decreasing force against said lever in different positions of said toggle.

2. In a device of the class described, a pressure member, a spring actuated toggle for sustaining said member, and means to provide initial set of said toggle and means tovary the initial compression of said s ring.

3. In a device of the class escribed, a revoluble pressure member carried by a lever, one end of said lever being connected to a spring actuated toggle, and adjusting means embodied in the toggle for varying the initial 1 angle of said toggle.

4. In a tablet producing machine, a pressure member carried by a lever, a spring actuated toggle connected to one end of said lever and means connected to the hinge of said -toggle for varying the initial angle of said toggle.

5. In a tablet producing machine, a pressure member carried by a lever, a toggle'connected to one end of said lever, an arm con nected to the hinge of said toggle and means for moving said arm to vary the initial angle of said toggle.

' 6. In a tablet producing machine, a pressure member carried by a lever, a toggle connected to one end of said lever, an arm con- V nected to the central hinge of said toggle, a

spring on said arm arranged to oppose closing -movement of said toggle, means for moving said arm to vary the initial angle of said toggle and means to vary the initial compression of said spring. I

8. In a compressor for powders, a support, rods movablymounted in said support and arranged to form openings therein for receivmg powder, a pivotally mounted lever, a pressure member on said lever, a spring actuated toggle connected to one end of said lever, means for varying the length of said connection to said lever to position said lever and pressure member carried thereby and correspondingly position said rods in said support and thus regulate the extent of said openings.

9. In a compressor for powders, a support, rods movably mounted in said support and arranged to formopenings therein for receiving powder, a pivotally mounted lever, a pressure member on 'said lever contacting with said rods, a spring actuated toggle connected to said lever, means for varying the length of one leg of said toggle to position said lever and the pressure member carried thereby and correspondingly position said rods to regulate the extent of said openings.

10. In a compressor for powders, a revoluble pressure member carried by a lever, a

toggle connected to one end of said 'lever, one leg of said toggle comprising two rods, the ends of which are respectively screw-threaded with right and left handed threads and are united by a sleeve nut having right and left handed threads therein, an arm connected to the central hinge of said toggle and passing through a pivotally mounted frame, a spring on said arm and mounted in said frame, a nut threaded on said arm for moving said arm to vary the central angle of said toggle and means on said arm for varying the compression of said spring.

11. In a compressor for powders, a support, rods movably mounted in said support and arranged to form openings in said support for receiving powder, a pivotally mounted lever, a toggle conneotedto one end of said lever, an arm connected to said toggle, means for moving said arm to vary the initial angle of said toggle, a pressure member for moving said rods carried by said lever and movable therewith and a cam on said lever arranged to engage said rods.

12. In a com ressor for powders, a support, rods mova ly mounted in said support and arranged to form openings therein for receiving powder, a pivotally mounted lever, a toggle connected to said lever, an arm connected to the central hinge of said toggle, a spring on said arm arranged to oppose closing movement of said toggle, means for moving said arm to vary the initial angle of said toggle, means to vary the initial compression of said spring, a revoluble pressure member for moving said rods mounted on said lever and movable therewith and a cam on said lever arranged to engage said rods to eject the compressed powder.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

STUART P. MILLER. HUGO E. HANSER. DlVIGHT COOLEY. 

